This research investigates the associations between adolescent alcohol use and parental monitoring practices. Telephone interviews were conducted with randomly selected adolescents (ages 14-19) and their parents in Maryland. Parent monitoring behaviors, parents' perceptions of their adolescents' drinking behavior and adolescents' self reports of drinking behaviors were assessed. Drinking behaviors included underage consumption of alcohol, drinking and driving and riding with a driver who has been drinking. Analyses of these data revealed that although parents perceived themselves as vigilant in monitoring their teens, they utilized a limited number of strategies to keep track of their teens, and severely underestimated their adolescents' drinking. Parents also used a limited number of different consequences for teen misbehavior. These results suggest that parent education programs that target teen drinking should enable parents to use more varied and effective parenting strategies.